And now Amos bent his mind and energies towards the accomplishment of that part of his life's great purpose which lay yet nearer, if possible, to his heart than even his sister's restoration to her father's house and affection. His mother was still a stranger to her home;--how should he bring her back? He felt that he must deal in the matter with a gentle and cautious hand. His aunt and the old butler were the only members of the household who as yet knew of his desire and intention. Mr Huntingdon had come to acquiesce in his wife's absence as a sad necessity, and it did not now occur to him to connect his daughter's return with the possibility of its being directly or indirectly a link in the recovery of the mother from her mental disorder. Walter also never put the two things together. Indeed, the state of his mother was so distressing a subject, that he had come to act upon the conviction that the less he thought about it the better. But what could Amos do? Turning matters over in his mind, it became an established purpose with him to bring about his mother's perfect restoration to sanity without letting his father have any suspicion of what he was attempting. With all his love for that father, he could not help having a strong conviction that, were he to consult him in the matter, the attempt at restoration would probably prove a failure. Either Mr Huntingdon would take things into his own hands, and, acting with characteristic impetuosity and bluffness, would most likely hinder where he meant to help forward, or else he would fail perhaps to understand and appreciate his son's views and methods of proceeding, and would prevent a successful issue by his impatience or interference. So Amos resolved that he would take the responsibility and mode of action on himself. Should he fail, his father would not have to suffer the pain of disappointment from that failure; should he succeed, he would have the happiness of bringing about a loving meeting again between those parents so dear to him, which would be to his father all the more delightful from its taking him by surprise. Secrecy, then, was an essential. No one must betray his purpose to his father. Therefore, when the family had all settled down peacefully, with the young widow sweetly and lovingly filling her place as a daughter and mother, Amos, one evening in the early part of the summer which followed his brother- in-law's death, betook himself to the butler's pantry. "Harry," he said, having seated himself on the closed lid of the plate chest, "I want just a word with you on a subject of great importance." "As many words as you like, my dear young master," said the old man; "it's always a privilege whenever I gets a visit from you, or dear Miss Julia as was, bless her. What a pity she ever changed Miss into Mrs; but perhaps some good man 'll get her to change it into a better Mrs some day, and wipe the taste of that horrid cruel man's name out of all our mouths."